Tensions build ahead of Crimea referendum

Mar 14, 2014, 12:51 AM

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Local and international tension is building ahead of Sunday's referendum in Crimea on whether to join the Russian Federation. There have been queues to withdraw money at banks and cash machines in Crimea. People there say they have no idea whether their currency will be the Ukrainian grivna or the Russian rouble within just a few days. Meanwhile world leaders are trying to keep the pressure on Russia, to pull back from its incursions into Ukraine. It's perhaps easy to forget that what's being called the greatest crisis in East-West relations since the end of the Cold War blew up in the first place because of Ukraine's desperate financial position. The BBC's Economics Correspondent Andrew Walker gave his assessment of the options ahead for the West.